Weekend mothing

We had some friends up this weekend and took advantage of their expertise to do some mothing. It was a bit cooler than is ideal but still lots of nice moths showing at the light!

Checking out the moth light

We were able to come up with about 65 species with some nice showy species.

Cecripia (left) and Io (right) moths 

Cecropia Moth is one of our biggest moths

Close-up of Cecropia body

 There's a fun game you can play with moths where you try to see how long you can last with one sitting on your face. It's extra tough if the moth's legs are in your nostril!

But seriously, lots of other fun moths:

Lophocampa caryae (Hickory Tussock Moth)

Drepana arcuata (Arched Hooktip)

Marathyssa inficita (Dark Marathyssa)

Hydrelia albifera (Fragile White Carpet)

Paonias excaecata (Blinded Sphinx)

Dryocampa rubicunda (Rosy Maple Moth)

Pheosia rimosa (Black-rimmed Prominent)

Furcula borealis (White Furcula)

One of my favourites is the Io Moth, of which we had a male put on a good show. Most of the time the big eye spots are hidden but if you scare them they'll flash you to try to scare you away.

Partially hidden eye spots

Fully open eye spots

There were also some day-flying moths out and about this weekend including this Nessus Sphinx:

Amphion floridensis (Nessus Sphinx)